This is a topic I’d likely be very biased about but I decided to cover it because if it was another Googler talking about the same thing, I’d probably cover that as well. In short, Danny Sullivan who is now at Google, is defending his reputation to the SEO community after joining Google again.
And by again, I mean again, because he said a while back he wasn’t hired by Google to keep quiet. Now he is being questioned again, specifically around linking to SEOs content for EAT resources, and a limited number of SEOs saying this is “unethical.”
In short, a few SEOs feel it is unethical for Google to link to SEOs content because it might come across as Google vouching for the SEO or the agency a form of certification from Google. Google said no, it is just Google vouching for the specific article that SEO wrote. In any event, Google added a disclaimer to the link saying “Note: Links to the articles above are not endorsements of any particular SEO companies or services. We simply found the articles themselves to be helpful content on this topic.”
But some SEOs called out Danny as a different individual now that he joined Google. Here are those tweets:
The Danny Sullivan before he joined Google is Danny Sullivan. I didn’t suddenly lose two decades of how I think. Kind of sad that’s the assumption. But hey, I get it.
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) August 2, 2019
Jenny, I’m the public liaison for search. I work for the search team, not our comms department. My role isn’t nor does it require me to defend Google. The only thing my role requires is for me to foster two way communication between Google and the general public.
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) August 2, 2019
READ THIS: To be clear, Jenny is an amazing person, she is caring, she gives her time to the industry and the industry is a better because of her. The point of this story was to show how Danny really did not sell his soul when he joined Google. It in no way was to cause people to attack Jenny. She has a valid concern that Google reviewed and made changes because of.
I have known Danny pretty well for like 15 or so years. I am pretty sure if Google pushed him to do something he didn’t think was right, or even if Google pushed him to do something that he didn’t think was right years before joining Google, he would have left Google long ago.
If there is anyone who cares about the SEO community and industry at Google, it is Danny.
And no, I did not have any private community with Danny about these tweets.
Forum discussion at Twitter.